Samuel L. Jackson on the Hilarious Origins of His Purple Lightsaber in ‘Star Wars’

For decades, 'Star Wars' fans were secure in the knowledge that lightsabers came in only three colors: red for evil, green for good and blue for Obi-Wan Kenobi. But then, when the new trilogy of prequels was released between 1999 and 2005, Samuel L. Jackson joined the franchise as Jedi warrior Mace Windu and broke the rules by sporting a purple weapon. So how did it happen?

Jackson explained the situation during a recent appearance on 'The Graham Norton Show,' revealing that -- as you may have already guessed -- it happened basically because what Samuel L. Jackson wants, Samuel L. Jackson gets.

We had this big arena, this fight scene with all these Jedi and they’re fightin’ or whatever. And I was like, well s---, I wanna be able to find myself in this big ol’ scene. So I said to George, "You think maybe I can get a purple lightsaber?"

Although Lucas pointed out that lightsabers traditionally only came in red or green, Jackson responded with some pretty powerful logic: "Yeah, but I want a purple one. I’m like the second baddest Jedi in the universe next to Yoda."

Ultimately, said Jackson, "When I came back to do reshoots, [Lucas] said, 'I want to show you something, this has already caused a s--- storm online.' And he had the purple lightsaber! And I was like yeah! And so I could find myself in that big fight scene. There's like 300 lightsabers, and I'm like, ‘There I am, right there.’"